This is to inform you that villagers have expressed their
strong opposition at the public hearing on July 30, 2013 for a new
ship-breaking facility near Mundra West Port in Gujarat’s Kutch district
proposed by Gautam Adani led Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited
(APSEZL).

I submit that villagers are opposing it because the
proposed project will result in destruction of mangroves, leveling of sand
dunes and adverse impacts on agriculture.

When villagers started questioning, Shri P. N. Roy
Chowdhury, an IAS officer who serves as the Joint President of Strategic
Planning APSEZL was fielded to respond to the concerns of the villagers failed
to provide convincing replies to them.

I wish to inform you that Shri Naran Gadhavi, of
Kheti Vikas Seva Trust who was present at the hearing stated that villagers are
totally opposed to the proposed ship breaking facility. Mundra West Port is
located near Vandh Village in Mundra Taluk of Kutch district in Gujarat about
16 km south-west of Mundra. The project is within the port limits notified as
Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The proposed ship recycling facility measures
40.7432 hectare adjacent to the existing Mundra West Port. Adani’s own EIA
report admits that, “at present most of the land is still submerged and only a
minor portion is located in the inter-tidal zone.”

Its report reveals that “the land for the project is being
created by dumping dredge spoils, generated due to expansion of Mundra West
Port, up to 7.0 m above the chart datum.” It is admitted that in Indian waters,
“the ships are scrapped directly on the beaches or the vast inter-tidal
mudflats exposed daily by about 10m tidal gauge. The beaching method of the
Indian sub-continent relies heavily on low labour cost, since it involves very
little mechanisation.” This beaching method which Adani’s company proposes in
Mundra is fatally flawed.

It is clear that in a tactical and clever manner the
company has taken environmental clearance for its various projects in the
proposed region in installments by outwitting the regulatory agencies. This
ploy is apparent when one reads in its claim in the Draft EIA report that
“APSEZL had received Environmental and CRZ Clearance for Water Front
Development Clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests…” This truncated
approach in grant of environmental clearances “has led to massive ecological
changes with adverse impacts” the committee observed. The proposed
ship-breaking facility is bound to aggravate the situation if cumulative and
induced impact is taken into consideration.

Environmental groups like ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) and
Paryavaran Mitra have termed APSEZL as a habitual violator of environmental
laws that has adversely impacted the environment and the livelihood of the
fishing communities.

It may be noted that Shri Debi Goenka
of Conservation Action Trust who was also present at the public hearing
reported on July 30, 2013, “Incidentally, the fisher folk were not allowed to
speak. The dy Collector also decided that only locals would be allowed to speak
only in Gujarati and others could give their comments in writing. He was forced to continue with the hearing
after he had ended it at 2 pm when we objected. He was also unable to explain
why only locals could speak at a public hearing and why only Gujarati was being
allowed. Adani and their consultants
could not even answer a simple question put to them about the different forms
of asbestos. By the way, Roy Choudhary is a retired IAS officer who still
pretends that he is part of Gujarat Government even though he is now officially
working for Adanis, and is now officially being paid by them.” Environmental groups have denounced the proposal
for ship breaking facility in Mundra as a threat to both the terrestrial and
marine environment as well as to public health.

In view of such concerns, I seek your intervention to ensure
that the proposed project is not allowed in the Mundra’s fragile coastal ecosystem.